In June, Nigel Farage changed his mind. Having first insisted six weeks simply wasn’t enough time to campaign for a seat, on 3rd June Farage returned to the leadership of Reform UK and announced he would stand in the Clacton-on-sea constituency at the general election. He also confirmed he was in it for the long haul, and this was the beginning of a five year project to replace the Tories entirely as the centre right offering in UK politics. Even a milkshake drenching wasn’t going to put him off. “Guess who’s back. Back again…”
Farage’s return was like lighting a firework in a library. Until then, the opening days of the election campaign were dull and predictable. Sunak and Starmer bored the audience to tears in their ITV debate, with no one’s mind changed on either side and no one any clearer on what Labour actually wanted to do with the power they were inevitably about to inherit. Starmer’s Ming vase remained intact, perhaps with one or two imperceptible hairline fractures…
6th June marked 80 years since the D-Day landings, with world leaders uniting in Normandy to commemorate the dead and thank the remaining survivors. Eyebrows were raised, however, when David Cameron appeared in the group photo alongside Biden, Macron and Scholz rather than the incumbent Prime Minister. At least Dave got to pretend it was 2015 again…
Rishi had left early. Leading a campaign seemingly immune to good decisions, the Prime Minister was back in the UK for an interview with ITV’s Paul Brand. The fallout was as bad as anyone with half a political brain would expect. As if forgetting an umbrella wasn’t enough…
Meanwhile in London, salacious gossip about a senior Labour figure’s private life had the attention of every newsroom on Fleet Street. It would go largely unreported, though a trickle of innuendo made into the gossip columns. The hacks couldn’t – or wouldn’t – stand it up…
Honourable mentions:
Headline of the Month
Speaking at his speech on how to achieve “progressive capitalism” Wes Streeting fired a dig and Andy Burnham:
“Bond markets are not bond villains and fiscal rules matter.”